RLF 


o 
oo 

CM 


IN  MEMO1IAM, 
George   Davidson 


professor  of  Geography 
University  of  California 


LESSONS   OF  ENCOURAGEMENT 


\ 


FROM    THE 


TIMES   OF  WASHINGTON. 


BY 


GEORGE  L./P_RENTISS, 

Castor  of  t&*  Cfiurci  nftie  Cobmant 


NEW  YORK: 
ANSQX    D.    F.    RANDOLPH, 

683    BROADWAY 
1863. 


LESSONS   OF  ENCOURAGEMENT 


FROM   THE 


TIMES   OF  WASHINGTON. 


BY 


GEOKGE  L.   PKENTISS, 

Castor  of  t&e  CT&urcf)  of  tf)e  Covenant. 


YOKE: 
ANSON    D.    F.    RANDOLPH, 

683    BROADWAY 

1863. 


zzman. 

PREACHED   ON   SUNDAY  MORNING,  FEBRUARY  22,    1863. 
PUBLISHED    BY   REQUEST. 


' 


LESSONS  OF  ENCOURAGEMENT  FROM 
THE  TIMES   OF  WASHINGTON. 


The  Lord  our  God  be  with  us,  as  He  was  with  our  fathers  ;  let  Him  not  leave  us  nor 
forsake  us." — 1  KIXGS  viii.  57. 

THE  attentive  reader  of  the  Bible  cannot  fail  to  be  struck 
with  the  manner  in  which  the  Jewish  people  cherished  the 
traditions  of  their  national  history.  That  history  carried  the 
back  to  the  very  gates  of  Paradise.  The  names  and  the  events 
that  rendered  it  so  remarkable,  were  familiar  to  them  as  house 
hold  words ;  it  was  a  part  of  their  religion  to  hold  both  in 
everlasting  remembrance.  Perhaps  no  nation  ever  existed  in 
which  the  ancestral  and  patriotic  spirit  was  so  powerfully  de 
veloped.  It  was  wrought  into  all  their  sacred  rites.  It  was 
embodied  and  enjoined  in  their  holy  books.  It  found  expres 
sion  in  their  public  festivals  and  anniversaries.  Long  exile 
only  rendered  it  more  intense.  If  I  forget  thee,  0  Jerusalem, 
let  my  right  hand  forget  its  cunning.  If  I  do  not  remember  thee, 
let  my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth  :  if  I  prefer  not 
Jerusalem  above  my  chief  joy.  Now  after  they  have  been 
scattered  and  torn  for  nearly  two  thousand  years,  the  Hebrew 
race  still  cling  with  delight  to  the  great  men  and  events  of  their 
most  distant  past ;  they  still  feel  bound  by  the  closest  ties  to 
the  ages  of  the  Patriarchs,  of  Moses,  of  King  David,  and  the 
Prophets. 

If,  then,  we  needed  the  sanction  of  Scripture  to  justify  the 
connecting  of  memorable  days  and  incidents  in  our  history 
with  our  religious  services,  we  have  it  abundantly.  The  Old 
Testament  and  the  New  are  full  of  such  sanction.  They  teach 
us,  both  by  precept  and  example,  that  the  threads  of  our 


M287967 


4  LESSONS   OF   ENCOURAGEMENT   FROM 

national  destiny  are  in  the  hands  of  God,  and  are  woven  by 
Him  according  to  His  own  will.  They  teach  us  that  the  fortu 
nate  events  which  have  helped  to  establish  and  unfold  our  na 
tional  life,  and  the  illustrious  men  who  took  the  lead  in  those 
events,  were  ordained  of  Heaven,  and  that  we  should  remember 
them  with  pious  gratitude,  and  should  hand  them  down  in 
honor  to  our  posterity.  There  is  no  other  way  to  keep  bright 
and  unbroken  the  links  of  that  mystic  chain  which  binds  us 
in  dutiful  affection  to  the  Past  and  to  the  Future.  It  is  a  sad 
mark  of  degeneracy,  when  a  people  never  stop,  both  for  their 
own  and  for  their  children's  sake,  to  commemorate  the  virtues 
and  take  counsel  of  the  example  of  their  forefathers ;  just  as  it 
is  the  sign  of  a  poor  and  shallow  domestic  life  when,  rooted  in 
the  present  alone,  it  is  enriched  by  no  old  and  hallowed  family 
memories. 

This  Christian  Sabbath,  as  you  are  aware,  is  also  the  anni 
versary  of  the  birth-day  of  that  incomparable  man,  whose 
name  is  still  enshrined,  as  is  no  other,  in  the  reverence  and 
grateful  affections  of  the  American  people.  It  is  a  day  to  be 
forever  marked  with  a  white  stone.  He,  whose  birth  it  recalls, 
was  justly  entitled  the  FATHER  OF  HIS  COUNTRY.  He  was,  and 
is,  our  greatest  earthly  benefactor.  In  raising  him  up  to  be 
the  leader  of  our  revolutionary  armies,  and  then  to  be  the 
wise  counselor,  organizer,  and  first  President  of  the  infant 
Republic,  God  bestowed  upon  us  a  gift  for  which  neither  we 
nor  our  latest  posterity  shall  ever  be  sufficiently  thankful. 
The  influence  and  character  of  GEORGE  WASHINGTON  have  done 
more  to  form  the  Union,  and  to  render  it  so  worthy  of  our  love? 
than  any  other  single  human  cause.  The  world  has  seen  as  yet 
only  the  first  fruits  of  this  benignant  and  mighty  influence. 
When  the  fierce  storm  of  civil  discord  now  beating  upon  us, 
and  threatening  wreck  to  the  great  Ship  of  State,  whose  keel 
was  laid  by  that  wise  master-builder,  shall  have  passed  away, 
I  doubt  not  the  name  of  "Washington  will  become  again,  as  it 
was  in  other  days,  a  political  talisman  and  bond  of  union  to 
the  whole  nation,  and  the  moat  perfect  symbol  of  American 
patriotism. 

Since  our  troubles  commenced,  the  question,  I  suppose,  has 


THE   TIMES    OF   WASHINGTON.  5 

suggested  itself  to  thousands  of  minds:  "What  would  have 
been  the  course  of  Washington — how  would  he  have  acted  in 
this  crisis?"  a  question  which,  it  is  obvious,  could  be  answered 
only  after  deciding  several  important  previous  questions.  It 
is  a  subject,  however,  which  I  do  not  propose  to  discuss  ;  nor 
would  its  discussion,  in  this  mere  personal  form,  be  likely  to 
yield  any  good  fruit.  Every  man's  duty  is  prescribed  by  the 
Providential  work  and  circumstances  of  his  own  age.  God 
does  not  allow  us  to  serve  Him,  or  to  serve  our  generation, 
by  mere  rote.  As  Christians,  we  have  our  peculiar  task  quite 
as  truly  as  the  apostles  and  evangelists,  and  primitive  saints 
had  theirs.  Their  doctrine  and  example  should  guide  and  ani 
mate  us,  but  that  is  all.  We  can  copy  and  repeat  their  specific 
work  no  more  than  we  can  go  back  eighteen  hundred  years> 
and  pass  through  our  probation  in  the  first,  instead  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  So,  too,  as  American  citizens,  we  have 
our  appointed  task  quite  as  distinctly  as  our  patriot  fathers 
had  theirs.  Their  exalted  principles  of  action  and  their 
faithful  example  we  may  well  adopt  and  imitate ;  but  as  to 
our  work  itself,  it  must  be  something  very  different  from  a 
bare  copy  of  theirs,  or  it  will  be  a  miserable  failure.  Unless  the 
object  of  our  intelligent  choice,  wrought  in  the  sweat  of  our  own 
face,  inspired  by  own  personal  trust  in  God,  and  stamped  also 
with  the  impress  of  our  individual  character  and  responsibility, 
it  cannot  be  genuine  :  it  will  not  live  on,  waxing  in  strength 
and  honor  after  we  are  dead.  Washington,  and  the  noble 
army  of  Revolutionary  heroes  and  sages,  who  fought,  and 
toiled,  and  suffered  with  him,  quitted  them  with  rare  fidelity 
and  wisdom  in  their  day ;  but  if  they  were  to  come  back  to 
earth  just  as  they  left  it,  they  could  not  assume  our  duties  ; 
they  would  find  themselves  perplexed  and  baffled  at  every 
turn ;  they  would  have  to  be  educated  over  again  before  they 
could  take  our  places.  What  is  wanted,  then,  is  not  that  we 
should  give  way  to  the  men — the  wiser  and  better  men,  it  may 
be — Of  former  times  ;  but  that  we  should  be  more  profoundly 
imbued  with  their  patriotic  virtues;  that  we  should  rise  to  the 
height  of  their  lofty  patience,  perseverance,  moral  courage,. faith 
in  God,  and  loyal  self-devotion.  That  is  what  we  want.  And 


6  LESSONS    OF  ENCOURAGEMENT  FKOM 

the  more  religiously  we  study  the  times  and  character  of  our 
fathers,  the  more  devoutly  we  cherish  their  memories,  in  order 
to  resemble  them  in  these  things,  so  much  the  better. 

This  brings  me  to  the  topic  on  which  I  desire  to  speak  to  you 
during  the  rest  of  this  hour,  viz. — Some  of  the  lessons  of  encour 
agement  tobe  drawn  from  a  comparison  of  the  times  of  Washington 
with  the  troublous  times  through  ivhic/i  we  are  passing.  I  assume, 
of  course,  as  the  basis  of  my  remarks,  that  our  war  of  indepen 
dence  was  a  righteous  struggle,  and  that  the  civil  revolution 
by  which  it  was  inaugurated  and  completed,  justly  deserves 
to  be  ranked  among  the  most  important  and  auspicious  move 
ments  of  modern  civilization.  This  is  a  point  I  need  not  stop 
to  argue,  for  it  is  a  part  of  our  consciousness  and  birth-right 
as  American  citizens.  I  assume,  further,  that  the  war  for  the 
Union,  in  which  we  are  now  engaged,  is  also  a  righteous  strug 
gle;  ff aught,  too,  with  momentous  and.  if  successful,  with  highly 
beneficial  results.  On  this  point  the  judgment  of  history  is 
yet  to  be  passed ;  but  not  doubting  what  in  the  main  that  j  udg- 
ment  will  be,  I  shall  take  it  for  granted,  at  least  for  the  pre 
sent.  Here,  then,  we  have  two  great  historic  movements;  occur 
ring  in  the  same  land,  among  the  same  people,  and  each  designed 
to  further  the  Divine  purpose  in  the  world.  One  of  them  oc 
curred  more  than  four-score  years  ago — the  other  is  still  in  full 
progress.  Is  it  not  fairly  to  be  presumed  that  a  careful -study 
of  the  former  will  throw  a  good  deal  of  light  upon  the  latter  ? 
History,  it  is  true,  never  copies  itself.  Its  march  is  always 
forward,  even  when  it  seems  to  be  retracing  its  steps.  New 
and  old  events  often  strikingly  resemble  each  other,  but  when 
most  alike,  they  are  also  most  unlike.  The  more  vital  and  im 
portant  the  epoch,  so  much  the  more  positively  will  it  be  dis 
tinguished  from  all  that  went  before.  God  does  not  come  to 
judgment,  and  shake  the  world  to  its  foundation,  for  the  sake 
of  merely  repeating  what  He  has  said  and  done  already.  The 
principles  of  His  moral  government  are  immutable,  but  their 
application  is  endlessly  diversfied.  He  speaks  to  each  genera 
tion  with  a  special  voice  and  emphasis,  assigns  to  it  fresh  tasks, 
and  works  a  work  in  it  which  manifests  His  eternal  justice, 
wisdom,  and  goodness  in  new  forms.  Hence,  it  is  so  interest- 


THE   TIMES   OF   WASHINGTON.  V 

ing  and  instructive  to  consider  His  ways  in  the  past.  We  dis 
cern  in  them  the  operation  of  the  same  Providential  laws  which 
are  determining  the  events  of  the  present ;  and  although  this 
does  not  enable  us  to  foresee  the  exact  course  of  those  events, 
since  the  circumstances  and  agents  through  which  the  divine 
laws  operate  are  so  different,  yet  is  it  eminently  fitted  to  in 
spire  us  with  hope  and  confidence  respecting  the  final  issue. 
For  it  is  hardly  needful,  I  trust,  to  say  from  a  Christian  pulpit, 
that,  however  much  it  may  appear  so  to  the  eye  of  sense,  still 
in  point  of  fact,  chance  has  no  veritable  rule  in  this  world ;  no 
more  amidst  war  and  the  tumult  of  the  people  than  in  the  most 
peaceful  times.  All  things  come  to  pass  and  are  governed  ac 
cording  to  the  determinate  counsel  and  foreknowledge  of  God. 
He  putteth  down  one  and  raiseth  up  another.  He  sitteth 
above  the  waterfloods,  and  reigneth  King  forever.  Events  and 
individuals,  whether  we  call  them  small  or  great,  are  what 
they  are  by  His  ordaining  or  permissive  will.  The  insect  that 
uses  up  its  petty  existence  in  a  summer's  day  is  not  below,  nor 
is  the  mightiest  man  on  earth  above  the  grasp  of  that  unseen 
but  most  skillful  and  resistless  Hand,  which  guides  the  wheels 
of  nature  and  of  history.  An  impious  denial  of  this  truth 
drove  the  haughty  king  of  Babylon  from  men,  and  made  him 
"eat  grass  as  oxen,  till  his  hairs  were  grown  like  eagles' feathers, 
and  his  nails  like  birds'  claws."  Listen  to  his  own  account  of 
his  recovery  from  this  state  of  imbruted  madness.  "  And  at 
the  end  of  the  days,  I,  Nebuchadnezzar -,  lifted  up  mine  eyes  unto 
heaven,  and  mine  understanding  returned  unto  me,  and  I  blessed 
the  Most  High,  and  I  praised  and  honored  Him  that  livethfor 
ever,  whose  dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  and  His  king 
dom  is  from  generation  to  generation  !  And  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  earth  are  reputed  as  nothing  /  and  He  doeth  according  to 
His  wiU  in  the  army  of  heaven,  and  among  the  inhabitants  of 
the  earth  /  and  none  can  stay  His  hand,  or  say  unto  Him,  what 
doest  thou  f  " 

It  is  by  the  light  of  this  sublime  doctrine  that  we  must  pon 
der  the  records  of  the  Past,  if  we  would  learn  from  them  wise 
and  cheering  lessons  for  the  present.  While  far  from  denying  the 
freedom  and  responsibility  of  human  agency,  but  rather  estab- 


8  LESSONS   OF   ENCOURAGEMENT   FROM 

lisliing  them  both,  it  still  asserts  the  absolute  and  righteous 
supremacy  of  the  Divine  will  in  all  temporal  affairs.  It  is  a 
doctrine  as  comforting  as  it  is  sublime ;  and  was  never  more 
worthy  of  being  enforced  than  now.  It  is  a  first  principle 
of  the  Christian  philosophy  of  history.  Guided  by  its  light, 
let  us  glance  at  the  times  of  Washington,  and  note  briefly  some 
of  the  lessons  of  encouragement  which  they  teach  us.  God 
was  then  leading  our  country  through  a  great  crisis  and  turn 
ing-point  in  its  history.  He  was  preparing  to  mature  and  con 
solidate  its  different  members,  yet  being  imperfect,  into  a 
free,  Christian  nation.  He  was  training  the  Thirteen  colonies 
by  the  rugged  discipline  of  war  to  understand  their  own 
weakness,  to  learn  the  secret  of  their  political  strength,  and 
thus  to  form  themselves  into  one  grand  American  Union.  He 
was  educating  from  among  the  people  of  the  colonies  a  race 
of  patriot  leaders  and  statesmen,  who  should  frame  the  right 
Constitution  of  government  for  a  free  Democratic  Republic  ; 
and  He  was  educating  the  people  also  to  inspire,  ordain,  and 
establish  that  Constitution  for  themselves  and  their  posterity. 
These,  we  believe,  were  some  of  the  main  designs  which  Pro 
vidence  was  bringing  to  pass  in  those  days,  and  to  the  acorn- 
plishment  of  which,  all  things, we  may  fairly  infer,  were  intend 
ed,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  minister.  As  we  now  look  back 
upon  the  memorable  period  from  this  distance  of  time,  and 
from  the  heights  of  blessing  to  which  it  has  raised  us,  how  in 
teresting  and  impressive  the  scene  !  What  grand  figures  move 
across  it !  How  large  and  far-reaching  the  events  !  and  what 
is  the  voice  with  which  it  speaks  to  us  in  this  dread  hour? 
What  does  it  say  about  the  fearful  and  bloody  drama  enacting 
before  our  eyes?  As  I  interpret  that  solemn  voice,  it  says, 
first  of  all,  that  the  cause  which  is  now  at  stake  is  at  bottom 
the  same  good  old  "  AMERICAN  CAUSE"  for  which  Washing 
ton  and  his  generation  fought  and  toiled ;  the  same  cause,  but 
almost  a  century  further  advanced. 

The  cause  of  American  Liberty  and  Union,  one  and  indi 
visible — is  not  that  what  the  Father  of  his  country  fought  and 
toiled  for  ?  is  not  that  the  burden  of  his  parting  counsels 
when  gathering  about  him  his  untarnished  robes  of  office,  he 


THE  TIMES   OF   WASHINGTON.  9 

bade  the  nation  farewell,  gave  it  his  blessing,  and  then,  like 
one  of  the  old  patriarchs,  retired  to  sleep  with  his  fathers? 
But  although  the  cause  is  essentially  the  same,  its  importance 
is  immeasurably  enhanced  by  new  and  vast  material  and 
moral  interests  with  which,  in  the  course  of  events,  it  has  be 
come  indissolubly  connected.  With  all  their  foresight  and  all 
their  high  hopes,  how  imperfectly  Washington  or  his  genera 
tion  comprehended  what  the  free,  national  Government  which 
they  founded  was  destined  to  grow  to  in  less  than  seventy-five 
years !  They  thought,  no  doubt,  and  some  of  them  predicted, 
that  it  would  wax  into  a  great  and  fruitful  tree  of  Human 
Liberty ;  but  who  of  them  dreamed  that  within  so  short  a  period 
its  majestic  branches  would  stretch  across  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains  and  overshadow  the  far  distant  shores  of  the  'Pacific 
Ocean  !  Had  they  foreknown  what  was  quickly  coming  to 
pass :  had  they  been  told  into  what  a  magnificent  civil  and 
social  temple  of  Humanity  their  work  would  so  soon  expand, 
I  am  sure  they  would  have  willingly  redoubled  their  sacrifices, 
if  needful,  and  fought  on  through  twice  or  three  times  severi 
years !  But  what  they  could  not  foreknow  is  to  us  matter  of 
sight  and  experience.  The  rapid  growth  of  the  Union  in 
population,  in  territory,  in  agriculture,  commerce,  manufac 
tures  and  the  mechanic  arts,  in  wealth  and  in  all  the  condi 
tions  of  material  prosperity ;  but,  more  than  all,  the  wonderful 
development  of  its  political,  social  and  spiritual  forces  are 
phenomena,  which,  doubtless,  have  no  parallel  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  If  you  should  search  through  every  library  in 
Christendom,  you  would  be  able  to  find  no  book  which  contains 
in  these  respects  such  an  extraordinary  body  of  statistical  facts 
as  the  Eighth  census  of  the  United  States.  And  how  large  a 
portion  of  these  facts  are  embodiments  and  practical  illustra 
tions  of  the  democratic  American  ideas,  which  are  the  very 
life  and  glory  of  our  land  ! 

The  Union,  then,  represents  the  identical  cause  for  which 
our  Revolutionary  fathers  prayed  and  struggled  :  in  truth,  it  is 
that  grand  old  cause  organized  in  laws  and  institutions,  armed 
with  national  government,  enriched  by  an  invaluable  expe 
rience,  hallowed  by  a  long  succession  of  illustrious  memories. 


10  LESSONS   OF   ENCOURAGEMENT   FROM 

and  now  fighting  for  existence  in  the  name  and  with  the  strong 
hand  of  the  sovereign  American  people.  The  difference  is, 
as  I  have  said,  that  the  lapse  of  three  score  years  and  ten  has 
not  only  raised  it  to  a  height  of  power  then  nndreampt  of,  but 
has  also  clothed  it  with  a  moral  grandeur  and  grafted  upon 
it  immense  new  interests  both  human  and  divine,  which 
render  its  claims  upon  our  devotion  peculiar  and  transcend- 
aut.  And  now,  if  this  be  so — if  the  contest  in  which  WQ  are  en 
gaged  is  for  essentially  the  same  object  and  the  same  principles, 
which  called  forth  the  energies  and  sustained  the  courage  of 
our  .Revolutionary  sires ;  if,  in  a  word,  we  are  striving  to  defend 
and  restore  what  they  at  so  much  cost  established,  to  save  the 
national  life  now  in  its  vigorous  manhood,  which  they  watched 
and  nurtured  with  such  tender  solicitude  in  its  struggling 
infancy,  then  I  think  their  success  ought  to  fill  us  with  reli 
gious  hope  and  confidence  as  to  our  own.  It  is  an  unspeaka 
ble  encouragement  to  remember  that  they  saw  far  darker 
days  than  we  have  seen,  endured  trials  and  sufferings  far 
more  numerous  and  severe  than  we  have  endured,  fought  on 
more  than  three  times  as  long  as  we  have  fought — and  yet 
they  triumphed  gloriously  in  the  end. 

This  suggests  another  point.  Washington  and  his  compatriots 
encountered  and  overcame  obstacles  in  the  way  of  their  success 
similar  to  those  which  now  beset  the  defenders  of  the  Union. 
They  had  their  financial  difficulties,  and  those  of  the  most 
formidable  character.  There  were  great  military  mistakes 
and  disasters.  There  were  incompetent  and  traitorous  leaders. 
There  were  sharp  differences  of  opinion  among  the  friends  of 
Independence.  Some  of  the  colonies  were  full  of  secret  and 
open  enemies  to  the  cause.  Artful  plotters  of  doubt  and  dis 
content  were  found  in  the  most  patriotic  states  and  under  the 
pretense  of  neutrality,  hatched  constant  mischief.*  There  were 

*  The  following  statute  enacted  by  the  Legislature  of  New  York  in  1778,  will 
illustrate  this  remark,  besides  being  suggestive  in  other  respects. 

"  Whereas,  certain  inhabitants  of  this  State  have,  during  the  course  of  the 
present  cruel  war  waged  by  the  King  and  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  against 
the  people  of  these  States,  affected  to  maintain  a  neutrality  which  there  is  reason 
to  suspect  was,  in  many  instances,  dictated  by  a  poverty  of  spirit  and  an  undue 
attachment  to  property  ;  and  whereas,  divers  of  said  persons,  some  of  whom  advo- 


THE   TIMES    OF   WASHINGTON.  11 

editors  and  politicians  then  as  there  are  now,  who  were  quite 
willing  to  sacrifice  their  country  for  the  sake  of  gratifying 
their  ambitious,  mercenary,  or  vindictive  passions.  The  cor 
rupt  contractors,  ravenous  extortioners  and  peculators,  who 
since  the  beginning  of  our  troubles  have  been  so  forcibly  ex 
emplifying  the  doctrine  of  total  depravity,  are  not  without  their 
prototypes  of  those  days.  There  also  abounded  then,  as  now, 
captious  fault-finders,  dismal  croakers  and  men  of  faint  hearts. 
"Washington  himself,  you  know,  was  the  object  of  bitter  abuse 
and  calumnies  ;  men  not  worthy  to  untie  his  shoe  conspired  to 
supplant  him  in  the  command  of  the  army  and  in  the  confi 
dence  of  the  country.  Lying  and  slander  and  misrepresenta 
tion  poisoned  the  social  atmosphere  then  just  as  they  do  now. 
Discouraged  by  all  these  things,  thousands  were  ready  to 
abandon  the  cause  and  make  peace  on  any  terms.  It  is  a 
grave  error  to  fancy  that  the  people  were  thoroughly  united 
in  those  "  times  that  tried  men's  souls."  The  want  of  more 
perfect  unity  was  one  of  the  things  that  made  the  times  so 
trying.  Even  good  men  were  not  all  on  the  right  side  ;  some  of 
them  were  on  the  wrong  side  and  continued  there  to  the  last. 
It  is  usually  so  in  great  social  convulsions.  It  was  so  in  the  civil 
wars  of  England.  It  was  so  in  the  times  of  Washington  ;  and 
we  need  not  be  surprised  or  disheartened  that  it  is  so  now. 
Let  us  comfort  ourselves  in  thinking  that  when  the  right  cause 
shall  have  triumphed  and  the  incalculable  blessings  wrapt  up 

cated  the  American  cause  until  it  became  serious,  have,  notwithstanding  the  for 
bearance  of  their  countrymen,  and  contrary  to  their  faith  pledged  by  their  paroles, 
ungratefully  and  insidiously,  by  artful  misrepresentations  and  a  subtle  dissemina 
tion  of  doctrines,  fears  and  apprehensions,  false  in  themselves  and  injurious  to  the 
American  cause,  seduced  certain  weak-minded  persons  from  the  duty  they  owed 
to  their  country ;  and  it  being  repugnant  to  justice  as  well  as  good  policy  that 
men  should  be  permitted  to  shelter  themselves  under  a  government  which  they  not 
only  refused  to  assist  in  rearing,  but  which  they  daily  endeavor  to  undermine  and 
subvert,"  "  be  it  enacted,"  die. : 

1st.  That  "  all  such  men  be  required  to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance,"  which  was 
prescribed  in  the  act ; 

2d.  That  "  if  they  refuse  to  take  the  oath  they  shall  be  removed  to  within  the 
enemy's  lines ;"  and 

3d.  "  That  if  they  ever  return  afterwards  they  shall  be  adjudged  guilty  of 
misprision  of  treason." 


12  LESSONS    OF   ENCOURAGEMENT   FROM 

in  it  for  the  whole  land  and  for  all  mankind  shall  fully 
appear,  then  the  few  good  men  among  us,  who  opposed  it, 
will  be  overwhelmed  with  shame  and  self-reproach  ;  while  the 
myriads  who  were  unwittingly  seduced  from  their  mental 
allegiance  and  thus  led  to  strive  against  their  country,  will  bless 
Heaven  for  thwarting  their  disloyal  aims.  As  for  such  as  tried 
to  betray  the  sacred  cause,  or  to  turn  its  perils  into  instruments 
of  unholy  ambition,  revenge  and  fraudulent  gain,  they  will  be 
only  too  glad  to  slink  away  and  rot  in  those  graves  of  dishonor 
and  oblivion  which  are  already  yawning  to  receive  them. 

If  history  were  not  full  of  the  lesson,  a  little  reflection  ought 
to  teach  us  that  every  righteous  cause  struggling  to  maintain 
itself  in  such  a  world  as  ours  must  needs  encounter  severe 
trials  and  opposition.  Nor  can  we  reasonably  expect  when 
the  social  elements  are  all  in  fierce  commotion,  the  sea  and 
the  waves  roaring,  that  no  mire  and  dirt  will  be  cast  upon  the 
surface.  War,  especially  civil  war,  is  always  fraught  with 
demoralizing  influences.  That  is  one  of  its  worst  curses.  It 
is  the  nature  of  war  to  breed  vice  and  corruption.  Its  justice 
— the  sacredness  and  importance  of  the  object  for  which  it  is 
waged — affords  no  adequate  protection  against  the  mischief; 
and  this  is  one  reason  why  those  wicked  men,  who  causelessly 
plunged  the  nation  into  this  trouble,  are  guilty  of  such  a 
gigantic  and  hideous  crime.  The  most  righteous  war,  then,  is 
not  without  dreadful  evils,  which  may  indeed  be  mitigated,  but 
not  avoided.  It  is  sure  to  be  attended  with  fearful  loss  of  life, 
by  suffering  and  bereavement,  by  destruction  and  waste  of 
property,  by  moral  disorders  and  calamities  which  no  humane 
mind  can  contemplate  without  profound  sorrow.  And  if  this 
were  all,  the  case  would  be  sad  indeed.  But  this  is  not  all 
There  is  another  side  to  the  picture.  The  sword  is  also  an 
instrument  of  Divine  discipline  and  retribution.  It  is  one  of 
the  most  effective  weapons  in  the  hands  of  the  Almighty  for 
executing  His  temporal  judgments,  for  the  punishment  of 
wrong  doing,  and  for  the  education  of  nations  and  of  indi 
viduals  to  obey  His  will. 

This  suggests  another  lesson  of  encouragement  to  be  derived 
from  the  times  of  Washington.  The  sufferings  incident  to  the 
long  war  for  Independence  were,  no  doubt,  immense — the  his- 


THE   TIMES   OF   WASHINGTON.  13 

tory  of  the  last  two  years  has  made  us  understand  them  as  we 
never  did  or  could  before — but  still  those  sufferings  were 
chiefly  endured  by  that  age ;  while  its  blood-bought  privi 
leges  and  institutions,  rendered  seven-fold  more  precious,  are 
all  ours  to-day,  and  will  belong,  we  trust,  to  our  children  after 
us  to  the  latest  generation.  And  who  does  not  see  that  the 
venerated  founders  of  our  Government  were  largely  prepared 
for  their  momentous  political  task  by  the  struggle  and  trials  of 
the  Revolution  ?  Where  else  but  in  that  fiery  furnace  did 
they  acquire  the  consummate  patriotism,  the  deep  wisdom,  the 
penetrating  and  temperate  judgment,  the  patience  and  perse 
verance,  the  conciliatory  spirit,  and  the  impassioned  devotion 
to  liberty,  which  constituted  their  qualifications  to  be  the 
founders  of  such  a  Government  ?  Nothing  can  be  clearer. 
His  observation  and  experience  at  the  head  of  the  Conti 
nental  army,  educated  Washington  for  the  great  civil  duties 
to  which  he  was  afterwards  called.  We  owe,  in  no  small 
measure,  to  the  rough  schooling  of  the  Revolutionary  War, 
both  the  institutions  which  followed  it  and  the  sages  who 
formed  them.  It  was  thus  that  Grod  prepared  its  specific 
work,  and  the  right  master  workmen,  for  that  natal  age  of  the 
Republic.  Who  can  say  that  by  the  colossal  war  now  raging, 
He  is  not  preparing  its  appointed  work,  and  the  right  kind  of 
workmen  for  this  most  critical,  advanced  age  of  the  Republic  ? 
Everybody  having  an  eye  to  see,  may  now  see  that  for  many 
years  we  have  been  approaching  a  crisis  in  our  existence  as  a 
free,  Christian  people,  which  could  be  surmounted  only  by  a 
tremendous  convulsion.  That  convulsion  is  upon  us,  shaking 
not  only  this  but  many  other  lands.  The  loathsome  and  ma 
lignant  disease,  which  had  so  long  been  silently  poisoning  the 
moral  and  political  life  of  the  country,  has  broken  out  with  a 
violence  unparalleled  in  history.  If  the  most  approved  signs 
of  Providential  interposition  are  not  utterly  fallacious,  then  is 
it  certain  that  the  Supreme  Ruler  and  Judge  of  all  the  earth 
has  taken  this  nation  directly  in  hand ;  and  that  He  seems 
fully  determined  either  to  cure  or  to  kill  it ;  one  or  the  other. 
And  if  He  means  to  cure  and  save  it,  He  will  do  so,  we  may 
be  sure,  through  human  agency ;  He  will  do  so  by  furnishing 
it  with  the  right  sort  of  counselors  and  leaders  ;  by  educating 


14  LESSONS    OF   ENCOURAGEMENT   FROM 

the  right  workmen  to  do  His  work,  just  as  He  did  in  the  times  of 
our  fathers  ;  and  as  He  did  then,  so  now,  by  training  and  puri 
fying-  them  in  the  fiery  furnace  of  war  and  of  public  troubles. 
I  believe  this  Providential  training  is  now  going  on,  and  has 
been  going  on  far  more  rapidly  than  our  impatience  is  dis 
posed  to  admit.  I  believe  that  in  both  the  civil  and  military 
service  of  the  Union  there  are  patriotic  men,  whose  names  will 
hereafter  fill  a  resplendent  chapter  in  its  history ;  men  who 
have  had  no  other  thought  or  desire  than  to  serve  and  help  to 
save  their  country,  and  who,  in  spite  of  a  thousand  obstacles 
and  discouragements,  have  done  so  with  signal  courage  and 
ability.  We  are  too  near  the  chief  actors  in  these  stupendous 
scenes  to  judge  them  fairly.  Whose  mind  has  not  been  more 
or  less  heated  by  passion?  or  biased  by  prejudice?  or 
soured  and  irritated  by  disappointment  ?  Whose  eye  has  had 
no  mote,  aye,  no  beam  in  it  ?  Posterity  will,  perhaps,  stig 
matize  not  a  little  of  what  some  of  us  fancy  to  be  gold,  as  mis 
erable,  base  counterfeit ;  but  Posterity  will  probably  stamp 
not  a  little  that  we  think  lightly  of  as  the  pure  gold  of  old 
Eevolutionary  patriotism.  We  have  been  too  prone  to  heap 
up  complaints  indiscriminately,  and  to  quarrel  with  every 
thing  short  of  perfection.  "  It  is  certain,"  says  Lord  Bacon, 
"that  the  best  governments,  yea,  and  the  best  men,  are  like 
the  best  precious  stones,  wherein  any  flaw  or  icicle  or  grain 
are  seen  and  noticed  more  than  in  those  that  are  generally 
foul  and  corrupted."  Washington  himself,  as  has  been  said, 
was  thought  very  poorly  of  both  as  a  soldier  and  states 
man,  by  some  of  his  impatient  and  critical  contemporaries. 
For  myself  I  regard  it  as  one  of  the  first  duties  of  loyal, 
Christian  citizenship  to  take  heed  how  we  wantonly  deny 
the  merits  or  exaggerate  the  faults  and  involuntary  errors  of 
those  who  have  been  called  of  Providence  and  by  the  national 
voice,  to  bear,  in  high  places,  the  heat  and  burden  of  this 
withering  day  of  the  Lord.  They  are  entitled  to  our  warmest 
sympathy,  our  prayers,  and  our  most  charitable  judgment. 
He  who  willfully  abuses  and  bears  false  witness  against 
them  commits  a  heavy  crime  against  his  bleeding  country. 
During  an  ordinary  quiet  voyage  it  may  do  no  serious  harm  to 
go  about  among  the  crew,  whispering  ruthless  suspicions  and 


THE   TIMES    OF   WASHINGTON.  15 

calumnies  against  the  chief  pilot  and  his  officers ;  but  to  do 
this  in  the  midst  of  a  hurricane,  when  nothing  can  save  the 
ship  but  relentless  vigilance,  and  the  prompt,  unquestioning 
obedience  of  all  hands  to  orders  given,  is  of  the  \ery  essence 
of  mutiny  ;  and  the  man  guilty  of  it  deserves  to  be  instantly 
cast  overboard.  Let  public  blame  and  censure  be  founded  in 
truth  ;  let  them  be  firm,  considerate,  patriotic  in  spirit ;  and 
even  in  such  an  hour  as  this,  they  may  be  highly  salutary ; 
otherwise,  they  are  the  mere  voice  of  faction.  We  owe  our  first 
and  paramount  allegiance  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  ;  and  that  allegiance  binds  us  to  loyal  speech  and  loyal 
writing,  as  well  as  to  offer  up,  if  need  be,  all  we  have,  and  our 
own  lives  also,  upon  the  altar  of  our  afflicted  country.* 

*  Strange  to  say,  the  secession  dogma  about  allegiance  finds  advocates  at  the 
North,  in  full  view  of  its  baleful  consequences,  and  that  among  men  who  profess 
to  be  entirely  loyal  to  the  Union.  It  may  be  worth  while,  therefore,  to  cite  the 
judgment  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  on  the  point,  as  expressed 
in  the  recent  decision  of  the  Prize  cases.  In  delivering  the  opinion  of  the  court, 
Mr.  Justice  Grier  said : 

"  Under  our  peculiar  Constitution,  although  the  citizens  owe  SUPREME  ALLEGIANCE 
to  the  Federal  Government,  they  owe  also  a  qualified  allegiance  to  the  States  in 
which  they  are  domiciled.  *  *  *  *  All  persons  re 

siding  within  this  territory,  [the  so-called  Southern  Confederacy,]  whose  property 
may  be  used  to  increase  the  revenues  of  the  hostile  power,  are,  in  this  condition 
liable  to  be  treated  as  enemies,  though  not  foreigners.  They  have  cast  off  their 
allegiance,  and  made  war  on  their  Government,  and  are  not  the  less  enemies  be 
cause  they  are  traitors  /" 

The  doctrine  of  no  allegiance,  or  of  a  secondary,  conditional  allegiance,  to  the 
National  Government,  is  almost  as  fatal  to  our  American  political  system  as  the 
doctrine  of  atheism  to  the  system  of  Christian  faith.  It  is  the  Trputrov  tpevdo^ — 
the  logical  and  moral  tap-root  of  secession.  By  this  doctrine  the  chief  priests 
and  leaders  of  the  Slaveholders'  Rebellion  fancy  they  have  succeeded  in  absolving 
their  followers  from  the  crime  of  treason  and  in  absolving  themselves  from  the 
double  sin  of  both  treason  and  perjury.  But  it  is  a  vain  delusion.  Their  hands  are 
stained  Avith  the  blood  of  myriads  of  their  innocent  countrymen,  and  no  mortal 
power  can  make  those  hands  clean  again ;  all  the  perfumes  of  Arabia  will  not 
sweeten  them. 

If  any  one  wishes  to  see  a  thorough  exposition  of  the  principles  upon  which 
the  duty  of  supreme  allegiance  to  the  National  Government  is  based,  let  him 
read  DANIEL  WEBSTER'S  speech,  delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  on 
the  16th  of  February,  1833,  in  reply  to  the  speech  of  Mr.  Calhoun  in  support  of 
his  famous  "  Compact"  or  right  of  secession  resolution.  It  is  entitled :  "  The  Con 
stitution  NOT  a  compact  between  Sovereign  States,"  and  exhausts  the  subject.  For 


16  LESSONS    OF   ENCOURAGEMENT   FKOM 

I  do  not  doubt,  then,  I  repeat  it,  that  this  crisis  is  already 
training  men,  not  merely  for  the  immediate  work  of  subduing 
the  rebellion,  but  for  the  weightiest  tasks  in  the  future.  Out 
of  this  war  will  emerge  young  men,  in  all  the  professions  and 
walks  of  life,  whose  minds  have  been  enlarged  and  illumi 
nated  by  great  national  and  Christian  ideas,  whose  patriotism 
has  been  baptized  in  tears  and  blood,  who  have  forsworn  all 

power  of  reasoning,  massive  strength  of  thought,  and  deep  political  insight,  it  is 
unsurpassed  by  any  other  speech  of  the  great  son  of  New  England.  The  argu 
ment  is  as  conclusive  as  a  mathemathical  demonstration.  This  speech  was  made 
thirty  years  ago,  but  the  constitutional  doctrine  which  it  unfolds,  and  the 
patriotic  solicitude  which  it  breathes,  seem  to  have  been  intended  expressly  for 
the  present  hour.  As  we  read  the  following  passage,  for  example,  in  the  light 
of  what  is  going  on  before  our  eyes,  how  solemn  and  prophetic  it  sounds : 

"  Mr.  President,  if  the  friends  of  nullification  should  be  able  to  propagate 
their  opinions,  and  give  them  practical  effect,  they  would,  in  my  judgment,  prove 
themselves  the  most  skillful  "  architects  of  ruin,"  the  most  effectual  extinguish 
ers  of  high-raised  expectations,  the  greatest  blasters  of  human  hopes,  that  any 
age  has  produced.  They  would  stand  up  to  proclaim,  in  tones  which  would 
pierce  the  ears  of  half  the  human  race,  that  the  last  great  experiment  of  repre 
sentative  self-government  had  failed.  They  would  send  forth  sounds,  at  the 
hearing  of  which,  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  right  of  kings  would  feel,  even  in 
its  grave,  a  returning  sensation  of  vitality  and  resuscitation.  Millions  of  eyes,  of 
those  who  now  feed  their  inherent  love  of  liberty  on  the  success  of  the  American 
example,  would  turn  away  from  beholding  our  dismemberment,  and  find  no 
place  on  earth  whereon  to  rest  their  gratified  sight.  Amidst  the  incantations 
and  orgies  of  nullification,  secession,  disunion,  and  revolution,  would  be  celebra 
ted  the  funeral  rites  of  constitutional  and  republican  liberty." 

How  characteristic  of  the  Defender  of  the  Constitution,  and  how  appropriate 
in  this  dread  hour  that  is  upon  us,  are  the  closing  sentiments  of  this  noble 
speech ! 

"  We  cannot,  we  must  not,  we  dare  not,  omit  to  do  that  which,  in  our  judg 
ment,  the  safety  of  the  Union  requires.  Not  regardless  of  consequences,  we 
must  yet  meet  consequences ;  seeing  the  hazards  which  surround  the  discharge 
of  public  duty,  it  must  yet  be  discharged.  For  myself,  sir,  I  shun  no  responsi 
bility  justly  devolving  upon  me,  here  or  elsewhere,  in  attempting  to  maintain 
the  cause.  I  am  bound  to  it  by  indissoluble  ties  of  affection  and  duty,  and  I 
shall  cheerfully  partake  in  its  fortunes  and  its  fate.  I  am  ready  to  perform  my 
own  appropriate  part,  whenever  and  wherever  the  occasion  may  call  on  me,  and 
to  take  my  chance  among  those  upon  whom  blows  may  fall  first  and  fall  thickest. 
1  shall  exert  every  faculty  I  possess  in  aiding  to  prevent  the  Constitution  from 
being  nullified,  destroyed  or  impaired ;  and  even  should  I  see  it  fall,  I  will  still, 
with  a  voice  feeble,  perhaps,  but  earnest  as  ever  issued  from  human  lips,  and 
with  fidelity  and  zeal  which  nothing  shall  extinguish,  call  on  the  PEOPLE  to 
come  to  the  rescue  !" 


THE   TIMES    OF   WASHINGTON.  17 

local  and  party  prejudices,  and  consecrated  themselves  to  the 
undivided  service  of  God  and  their  country  ;  "  young  men  full 
of  towardness  and  hope,  such  as  the  poets  call  AURORA  FILII, 
Sons  of  the  Morning  /"  Young  men  fashioned  after  this  man 
ner,  are  such  stuff  as  our  noblest  sires  were  made  of.  We 
shall  be  blessed  with  an  elect  race  of  them ;  and  they,  by  the 
favor  of  God,  will  have  a  master-hand  in  guiding  and  shaping 
the  coming  fortunes  of  the  Union.  When  the  intellectual  and 
moral  life  of  a  people  is  vigorous,  where  the  national  soil  is 
deep  and  genial,  there  great  civil  troubles  always  develop  the 
sturdiest  and  most  benignant  public  virtues.  I  believe  it  will 
be  so  now.  We  must  not,  indeed,  look  for  another  WASHING 
TON  :  one  such  character  is  enough  for  us — enough  for  all  time. 
But  we  shall  have  an  order  of  earnest  citizens  and  statesmen, 
not  unworthy  to  have  been  the  friends  and  counselors  and 
fellow-workers  of  the  Father  of  his  Country.  There  will  arise 
forms  of  Christian  manhood  and  patriotism  commensurate 
with  the  imperial  grandeur,  power,  and  world- wide  mission 
of  the  regenerated  Eepublic.  The  ancestral  type  of  American 
character,  with  its  sturdy  sense  and  vigor,  bold  self-reliance, 
free  intelligence,  deep  moral  and  religious  convictions,  love  of 
order,  its  democratic  spirit,  and  hatred  of  injustice,  will  reap 
pear  in  new  strength  and  beauty ;  but  purified,  let  us  hope, 
from  the  vices  of  a  later  age,  and  enriched,  too,  with  heroic 
Christian  qualities,  which  it  will  hate  gained  by  the  trying 
and  unexampled  experience  through  which  we  are  passing. 

I  am  not  ignorant  that  some  cast  a  very  different  horoscope 
of  the  future.  They  see  no  light  ahead,  no  bright  star  of  pro 
mise  above,  but  only  clouds  and  darkness.  They  think  the 
Republic  has  seen  its  best  days,  and  is  now  sick  unto  death. 
They  seem  to  have  no  confidence  in  the  present,  and  little  hope 
in  any  future  generation.  They  fear,  indeed,  that  God  has 
forsaken  His  heritage  forever.  " ICHABOD,"  they  say :  "The 
glory  has  departed  from  Israel"  But  I  do  not  believe  that 
the  glory  has  departed.  The  loyal  spirit  of  the  people  (to 
borrow  the  words  of  Milton,  in  reply  to  the  doubters  and  pro 
phets  of  evil  amidst  the  civil  distractions  of  his  day,)  the  loy 
al  spirit  of  the  people,  if  you  consider  it  well,  "  betokens  us  not 


18  LESSONS   OF   ENCOURAGEMENT   FKOM 

degenerated,  nor  drooping  to  a  fatal  decay,  by  casting  off  the 
old  and  wrinkled  skin  of  corruption,  to  outlive  these  pangs, 
and  wax  young  again,  entering  the  glorious  ways  of  truth  and 
prosperous  virtue,  destined  to  become  great  and  honorable  in 
these  latter  ages.  Methinks  I  see  in  my  mind  a  noble  and 
puissant  nation,  rousing  herself  like  a  strong  man  after  sleep, 
and  shaking  her  invincible  locks ;  methinks  I  see  her,  as  an 
eagle  muing  her  mighty  youth,  and  kindling  her  undazzled 
oyes  at  the  full  midday  beam,  purging  and  unsealing  her 
long  abused  sight  at  the  fountain  itself  of  heavenly  radiance  ; 
while  the  whole  noise  of  timorous  and  nocking  birds,  with 
those  also  that  love  the  twilight,  nutter  about,  amazed  at  what 
she  means,  and,  in  their  envious  gobble,  would  prognosticate" 
approaching  ruin. 

It  was  my  intention  to  cite  some  passages  from  the  Farewell 
Address,  in  illustration  of  what  I  have  been  saying.  That 
unique  and  immortal  document — the  most  impressive  legacy 
of  patriotic  wisdom  and  affection  ever  penned  by  an  uninspired 
hand,  is  mainly  devoted  to  counsels  on  the  priceless  blessings  of 
liberty  and  the  Union,  the  perils  to  which  they  would  be  ex 
posed,  and  the  right  way  of  preserving  them.  A  better  touch 
stone  of  the  real  character  of  our  national  struggle  could  hard 
ly  be  desired  than  the  simple  fact  that  while  most  of  WASHING 
TON'S  Farewell  Address  would  sound,  in  the  ears  of  the  men  in 
arms  against  the  Government,  as  both  false  and  bitterly  re 
proachful,  there  is  not,  on  the  other  hand,  a  loyal  heart  in  the 
nation  which  does  not  beat  in  unison  with  every  part  of  it ; 
there  is  not  a  loyal  ear  in  the  nation  upon  which  its  touching 
and  patriarchal  counsels  do  not  fall  with  a  kind  of  supernatu 
ral  force ;  there  is  not  a  pulpit  in  the  land,  from  which  it 
might  not  be  read  this  morning,  in  perfect  consonance  with 
the  sanctity  of  the  day,  and  with  the  spirit  of  every  loyal  wor 
shipper.  Is  that  a  mere  accident  f  Take  a,  single  sentence  : 

"  The  unity  of  government,  which  constitutes  you  one  peo 
ple,  is  now  also  dear  to  you.  It  is  justly  so  ;  for  it  is  a  main 
pillar  in  the  edifice  of  your  real  independance  ;  the  support 
of  your  tranquillity  at  home,  of  your  power  abroad,  of  your 
safety,  of  your  prosperity,  of  that  very  Liberty  which  you  so 


THE  TIMES    OF   WASHINGTON.  19 

highly  prize.  But  as  it  is  easy  to  foresee,  that  from  different 
causes,  and  from  different  quarters,  much  pains  will  be  taken, 
many  artifices  employed,  to  weaken  in  your  minds  the  con 
viction  of  this  truth,  as  this  is  the  point  in  your  political  fort 
ress  against  which  the  batteries  of  internal  and  external  ene 
mies  will  be  most  constantly  and  actively  (though  often  co 
vertly  and  insidiously)  directed,  it  is  of  infinite  moment  that 
you  should  properly  estimate  the  immense  value  of  your  Na 
tional  Union  to  your  collective  and  individual  happiness ;  that 
you  should  cherish  a  cordial,  habitual,  and  immovable  attach 
ment  to  it,  accustoming  yourselves  to  think  and  speak  of  it 
as  of  the  palladium  of  your  political  safety  and  prosperity ; 
watching  for  its  preservation  with  jealous  anxiety;  discoun 
tenancing  whatever  may  suggest  even  a  suspicion  that  it  can, 
in  any  event,  be  abandoned  ;  indignantly  frowning  at  the  first 
dawning  of  any  attempt  to  alienate  any  portion  of  our  coun 
try  from  the  rest,  or  to  enfeeble  the  sacred  ties  which  now 
link  together  the  various  parts.'' 

Imagine  this  passage  read,  or  its  sentiments  uttered  from 
the  pulpit,  to-day,  in  Richmond,  or  Charleston ! 

I  have  thus  noted  some  of  the -lessons  of  encouragement 
which  may  be  drawn  from  considering  the  way  in  which  God 
led  our  fathers  of  the  Revolution  through  the  troubles  of  their 
time.  It  has  not  been  my  aim  to  discuss  the  general  ques 
tions  of  the  war,  to  vindicate  the  justice  of  the  national  cause, 
or  to  show  how  momentous  are  the  consequences  it  involves 
to  us  and  our  children,  to  the  American  people,  to  the  church 
of  Christ,  and  to  mankind.  On  all  these  points  I  have  spoken 
to  you  many  times,  already ;  and  on  them  all,  let  me  add,  my 
convictions  remain  unchanged,  except  that  they  have  grown 
more  intense  and  profound.  Every  month,  every  week,  every 
day,  the  ONE  GREAT  ISSUE  has  been  defining  itself,  or  rather 
Almighty  Providence  has  been  defining  it  for  us,  with  more 
and  more  awful  distinctness,  until  we  find  ourselves  absolute 
ly  shut  up  to  one  of  two  things  :  shut  up  as  by  a  wall  of  ada 
mant.  We  must  either  decide  to  let  this  Rebellion  triumph, 
with  all  its  shameless  hypocrisy,  perjuries,  treason,  and  other 
heaven -defy  ing  crimes  upon  its  head ;  triumph  by  planting 


20  LESSONS   OF   ENCOURAGEMENT   FROM 

its  iron  heel  yet  more  firmly  upon  the  necks  of  its  millions  of 
black  and  white  victims ;  triumph  in  the  destruction  of  this 
great  and  matchless  Christian  Nationality :  triumph  in  becom 
ing  a  perpetual  terror  to  us  and  to  the  world :  or  else,  with 
one  heart  and  one  mind,  we  must  go  straight  forward,  smit 
ing  it  still  with  the  sharp  sword  of  justice,  until,  conquered 
and  crushed,  at  whatever  cost  of  time  and  blood  and  treasure, 
it  shall  live  thenceforth  only  in  the  scorn  and  abhorrence  of 
mankind,  as  the  most  causeless,  wicked,  and  dreadful,  re 
corded  in  history.  This  is  the  stern  dilemma  which  confronts 
us  ;  and  let  every  man,  in  the  fear  of  God,  remembering  the 
honored  past,  and,  thinking  of  his  children  after  him  for  a 
thousand  generations,  choose  which  horn  of  it  he  will.  Neu 
trality,  in  the  face  of  such  an  issue,  is  moral  cowardice  and 
crime. 

May  it  please  the  Almighty  Ruler  of  the  world  to  breathe 
continually  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people,  to  uphold  their 
fainting  spirits,  and  arm  them  with  fresh  courage  and  confi 
dence  in  Himself,  as  new  exigencies  arise ;  to  give  them,  and 
their  leaders  also,  as  He  gave  to  Solomon,  and  as  He  gave,  in 
so  eminent  a  degree,  to  our  own  Washington,  "  wisdom  and 
understanding  exceeding  much,  and  largeness  of  heart  as  the 
Band  that  is  upon  the  sea-shore." 

The  Lord  our  God  be  with  us,  as  He  was  with  our  fathers : 
let  Him  not  leave  us  nor  forsake  us  :  That  He  may  incline  OUT 
hearts  unto  Him,  to  walk  in  all  His  ways,  and  to  keep  His 
commandments,  and  His  statutes,  and  His  judgments,  which  He 
commanded  our  fathers.  God  be  merciful  unto  us,  and  bless  us, 
and  cause  His  face  to  shine  upon  us  :  Tliat  Thy  way  may  be 
known  upon  earth.  Thy  saving  health  among  all  nations. 

<•.  AMEN  AND  AMEN. 


RECENT   PAMPHLETS. 


How  a  Free  People  Conduct  a  Long  War, 

A    Chapter   from    English    History.      By  CHARLES  J.  STILLE. 
8vo.     Paper,  15  cents. 

"  "We  trust  that  this  pamphlet  may  be  very  widely  read.  It  is  a  most  timely 
utterance,  and  we  are  sure,  that  wherever  it  is  read  it  will  infuse  new  courage 
and  hope  into  loyal  hearts.  It  shows  that  the  scenes  through  which  we  are 
passing,  the  state  of  public  feeling  toward  the  government,  the  disputes  in 
reference  to  public  men  and  public  measures,  have  nothing  in  them  at  all  strange 
or  unusual,  but  are  in  fact  the  almost  universal  and  inevitable  accompaniment 
of  long  wars — wars  which  in  the  end  are  entirely  successful.  The  writer  iilus 
trates  the  whole  by  an  extended  reference  to  what  took  place  in  the  Peninsular 
War,  under  the  leadership  of  Wellington." 


The  American  War, 

A  Lecture   delivered   in    London,  October,    1862. 
NEWMAN  HALL,  D.  D.     15  cents. 


By    Rev. 


Report  of  Louis  H,  Steiner,  M,  D,, 

Inspector  of  the  Sanitary    Com  mission.     Containing   a  Diary 

kept  during  the  Rebel  Occupation  of  Frederick,  Md.,  during 

the  Campaign  in  Maryland,  September,  18G2.     8vo.  Paper, 
15  cents. 


Published  by 

ANS9N  D.  F.  RANDOLPH, 

JVo. 


The  above  will  be  sent  by  Mail  prepaid,  on  the  receipt  oj 
the  price  in  postage  stamps. 


Stockton,  Calif. 


14  DAY  USE 

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